Police blow up broken-down car after dozy tourist parked it just yards from the Houses of Parliament

Police blow up broken-down car after dozy tourist parked it just yards from the Houses of Parliament (and he got a parking ticket too!)

www.dailymail.co.uk

Anti-terrorist police evacuated Parliament Square and carried out a controlled explosion on Nima Hosseini Razi's dark blue Ford Mondeo after he abandoned it just yards from the House of Commons and Westminster Abbey.
Mr Razi inspects the damage caused to his Ford Mondeo by the controlled explosion

(visit the link for the full news article)

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While he was gone, police spotted the car and deciding it was a security risk to the nearby Houses of Parliament, evacuated the area so they could carry out a controlled explosion.

A note left on the dashboard reads: 'Dear Sir or Madam, this car is broken. I am just waiting for the AA to arrive. Please do not fine! Thank you, yours sincerely'
how the English are taught to order

www.dailymail.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I love the way in the article it talks about how the parking warden gave the guy a ticket AFTER the police blew his car up!

Other than that, who the hell leaves their broken down car to go on a short sightseeing trip?

Hmmmm.
Police find 'suspicious' car parked outside of the Parliament.

'What should we do?'
'It may be a car bomb!'
'Correct, let's blow it up.'

Am I wrong in thinking that this may have been a stupid move?

ETA: This reminded me of a Monty Python skit.

does the ex-car owner get supplied with a new one at the cost of the goverment or police? i'd be kinda annoyed at getting a car blown up in an error only to be told by my insurance company that it doesnt cover terrorist and war acts ...damn

The police take a dim view of stuff left around in london after the years of IRA bombings and the GF when she lived down there was always told to keep an eye out for anything suspicious so its hardly suprising that the police don't waste time as it could be a car bomb from some disgruntled group

so the moral of the story is don't leave anything unattended in london or they could blow it up

Much the same view as some others have stated. At the end of the day, you can't park by the Houses of Parliament and there are plenty of signs around saying this. Everything is deemed a terrorist threat following the IRA years and the more recent homegrown militant attacks.

If the vehicle had broken down, he should clearly have stayed with it or at the very least contacted someone and let them know the situation. Saying he is a tourist is a poor argument here, unfortunately for him. Anyone with any common sense would know not to abandon a vehicle by a national parliament!

Going to be a very costly mistake for him. On the plus side though i would be willing to bet it is never a mistake this particular tourist makes again.....

I think the police did the right thing here. It wouldn't have been sensible for them to wait for the AA to arrive or the owner to finish his sight seeing. If there was a bomb in that car and it had gone off, people would be screaming, "Why didn't the police do anything!" If your car breaks down outside a major potential target, don't leave it unattended to go sight-seeing. Simple. (You can pick up a decent Mondeo for peanuts now anyway.. no biggy!)

If you leave stuff lying about in London it's going to get blown up, be it your packed lunch or a car.
It's not anything new nor is it rocket science.
Mr Razi is obviously a prize pillock.

so the Ford Mondeo 'sounds just like a golf' then

(reference to an advert on UK TV).

Woke up to these extreme bend over and kiss your freedom loving as$ goodbye responses, and wondered if I'd had a bad timeline change during the night or something.

Originally posted by Unity_99
Woke up to these extreme bend over and kiss your freedom loving as$ goodbye responses, and wondered if I'd had a bad timeline change during the night or something.

Could you elaborate on that a bit please? Not sure that i understand your point.

Non story really. What do you expect if you abandon your car outside one of the most secure locations in the UK? Fairly inevitable and obvious outcome I would have thought. Yes I feel for the guy who's lost his car, particularly if he was unaware but it's fairly difficult to stop/park anywhere around parliament square plus there are police everywhere, so he could have sought help. All in all, much-ado-about-nothing.

nothing abnormal here
this time the terrorists blew up someone elses car...

luckily the guy wasn't there when the car was blown up by the terrorists
or the headlines would probably read
suicide bomber attacks government buildings

Originally posted by butcherguy
Hmmmm.
Police find 'suspicious' car parked outside of the Parliament.

'What should we do?'
'It may be a car bomb!'
'Correct, let's blow it up.'

Am I wrong in thinking that this may have been a stupid move?

ETA: This reminded me of a Monty Python skit.

edit on 14-6-2012 by butcherguy because: To add.

Sounds about right. The school I went to more than 20 years ago was close to military barracks. They had "no parking" zones clearly marked out around the outer perimeter fences. If a car was parked there then it was destroyed by controlled explosion.

This isn't a new thing, nor is it confined to London. The UK has a long history of being bombed; this stuff is taken seriously and no quarter is given.

Originally posted by EvillerBob

Originally posted by butcherguy
Hmmmm.
Police find 'suspicious' car parked outside of the Parliament.

'What should we do?'
'It may be a car bomb!'
'Correct, let's blow it up.'

Am I wrong in thinking that this may have been a stupid move?

ETA: This reminded me of a Monty Python skit.

edit on 14-6-2012 by butcherguy because: To add.

Sounds about right. The school I went to more than 20 years ago was close to military barracks. They had "no parking" zones clearly marked out around the outer perimeter fences. If a car was parked there then it was destroyed by controlled explosion.

This isn't a new thing, nor is it confined to London. The UK has a long history of being bombed; this stuff is taken seriously and no quarter is given.

I guess I need to be schooled in the methods of 'controlled explosion' when confronted with a vehicle that may be packed full of high explosives.

To me, it seems like putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger to see if it is loaded.

IOW, what if that car had been full of high explosives???? What would the Parliament looked like after the 'controlled demolition'?

reply to post by butcherguy


The key word here is "Controlled". They dont just wire up a fuse and see what happens funnily enough!!!

en.wikipedia.org...

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by 0010110011101
reply to post by butcherguy

 

The key word here is "Controlled". They dont just wire up a fuse and see what happens funnily enough!!!

en.wikipedia.org...

en.wikipedia.org...

A controlled explosion is a method for detonating or disabling a suspected explosive device. Methods which are used to set off a controlled explosion include emptying out the area and moving the package (with the aid of robots) into a confined space such as a telephone booth. Another classic method of controlled explosion is to place the bomb in a skip and fill it with sand before detonating it with a self-incendiary device or a fuse. Controlled explosions are becoming quite common in the UK, especially in the South East where, because there is a lot of development, unexploded World War II bombs are often found by construction diggers[citation needed].

The above is from your link.
I will ask now, how big was the 'skip' that they put the car in? How much sand does it take to fill a car-sized skip?
Or did they use a robot to put the car in a telephone booth? I know English cars are small...But...


ETA: i hope you see my point. The car was sitting next to Parliament, it does not appear that they contained it before blowing it up.
If it had been loaded with high explosives, I think serious damage would have been done to an important structure.

reply to post by butcherguy


I hear what you're asking. Try this old BBC article: news.bbc.co.uk...

I suppose what I am saying is that the whole purpose of the controlled explosion is risk mitigation. If they felt there was 500lb of high explosives in a car they would take suitable precautions to prevent it from causing damage to surrounding buildings and people. Hopefully there is someone on ATS with experience who can give you a more detailed answer.

reply to post by 0010110011101
Thank you for the link, it was informative for me.

Apparently, saying that they blew the car up is a bit 'over the top'.

They use a small charge to open the 'boot' (we call it a trunk over here) to gain access to the car in order to inspect it more closely.